Aer Lingus has said that it will suspend ground operation and cabin crew staff who are members of Siptu from the payroll from next Tuesday unless they provide a written undertaking not to participate in industrial action planned by the union for next week.
In a letter sent last night to 1,800 Siptu members, Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion said that any employee who participated in the industrial action next week "may be guilty of very serious misconduct in the discharge of their duties".
"There is no underestimating the seriousness of the current situation, which will potentially see the airline shut down for an indefinite period of time," he said.
Siptu, which represents ground operation personnel, including check-in and baggage handling staff as well as cabin crew, has served notice on Aer Lingus that it will engage in rolling four-hour stoppages on Tuesday and Friday next week in protest at moves by the company to implement a €20 million cost-cutting plan.
Siptu national industrial secretary Michael Halpenny said last night that Mr Mannion's letter represented an attempt at intimidation.
He said that it was "another example of the bully boy tactics to which the company is resorting to force through serious cutbacks in pay and conditions for employees".
In October, Aer Lingus introduced a pay freeze for all staff until its cost-cutting plan, the Programme for Continuous Improvement (PCI), was implemented in full. The company says that costs and working practices in the airline are out of line with industry norms.
Earlier this month, it announced that the contracts of temporary staff would be terminated in January and that all staff recruited after that would be employed on revised terms. Siptu maintains that staff could lose between €3,000 and €5,000 under the new contracts.
In his letter, Mr Mannion said that for nearly a year the union had refused to engage in any meaningful way with the company on its PCI plan. He said that participants in the industrial action "should be aware that such conduct on their part may constitute acts which interfere with the proper performance of the company's business and represent unauthorised absence from duty".
He asked staff to confirm in writing by Monday evening that they would not be taking part in the planned industrial action.
"It is important that you understand that if you fail to give the confirmation requested above, or fail to forward adequate grounds for your refusal to do so, by 17:00hrs on Monday, November 19th, 2007, you will be suspended from the payroll from 00:01hrs on Tuesday, 20 November 2007. Aer Lingus is unwilling to accept partial, incomplete or interrupted discharge by you of your duties as an employee of Aer Lingus and if that were to occur, Aer Lingus will exercise its legal entitlement to suspend you from the payroll. This will extend to all employee benefits and privileges including travel concessions," he said.
Mr Mannion said management was available to work through the issues in any forum as long as it resulted in the full implementation of the PCI plan.
"We cannot continue the current engagement in never-ending processes that have no outcome other than to create endless uncertainty for our customers, employees and investors," he said.
Mr Halpenny said Mr Mannion's letter was "inflammatory and extremely unhelpful in the current atmosphere". "It is clearly intended to intimidate staff rather than address the best ways of meeting the airline's competitive challenge in the interests of all the stakeholders," he said.
